The DAIA, the central body of Argentine Jewry, hailed today “as an important step toward overcoming prejudices” the promulgation by the Vatican of the Ecumenical Council declaration repudiating the charge of deicide against the Jewish people in the death of Jesus and deploring anti-Semitism.
In a formal statement, the DAIA said the promulgation had given the Catholic Chure the “essential declaration for relations with the Jewish people.” The DAIA added that it considered that it was its duty to state that in the future that self-proclaimed Catholics who believed that anti-Semitism was compatible with their faith “will have no more pretext” of so believing.
While stressing the importance of the promulgation, the DAIA also stressed its reservations over the final form of the draft and of the “unheard of pressures tending to minimize its scope.” The DAIA statement strongly urged full application and fulfillment of “those principles of human brotherhood” embodied in the newly-promulgated Church dogma on Jews.
The DAIA said that the declaration, “if projected fully” to all elements of the Catholic hierarchy, down to the parish priest, as well as to “those who use the Catholic Church as a “guise” for anti-Semitism, it would become “an effective barrier to those among us and others who falsify their status as Catholics preaching racial hatred.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
